Harvard Campaign Seeks to Encourage More Low-Income Applicants

Harvard University on Thursday introduced a new outreach campaign that seeks to encourage more students from low-income backgrounds to apply there and to other elite institutions, The Boston Globe reported.

In its announcement, the university said the campaign, called the Harvard College Connection, would use online communications such as a video and social media alongside more-traditional outreach strategies. The effort seeks to reach high-achieving, needy students, many of whom do not apply to selective colleges, as research has shown.

Harvard said its office of admissions and financial aid would work with university researchers and the College Board to share the results of the project with other colleges. It said the focus of the effort was to “increase college matriculation and graduation rates nationally” among such students.

“To ensure that talented low-income students understand their opportunities, we need to meet them where they are,” said William R. Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s dean of admissions and financial aid, in a written statement. “To date, that has meant literally traveling to meet them in cities and towns across the nation. Going forward, we will meet them both in person and online.”